Connecticut school shooting: At least 27 dead, including 20 children

A young girl is given a blanket after being evacuated from Sandy Hook Elementary School following a shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, December 14, 2012. (Reuters | MICHELLE MCLOUGHLIN)

NEWTOWN, Conn. — A man opened fire inside the Connecticut elementary school where his mother worked Friday, killing 26 people, including 20 children, and forcing students to cower in classrooms and then flee with the help of teachers and police.

The death toll — 26 victims plus the gunman — was given to The Associated Press by an official who spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation was still under way.

Law enforcement officials say the suspect is the 20-year-old son of a teacher, Nancy Lanza, who worked at the school. His older brother is being held for questioning.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, the official said the suspect is dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Connecticut state police spokesman Lt. J. Paul Vance said that another adult was found dead at a "secondary scene" related to the shooting. He would not elaborate further, citing the ongoing investigation.

The shooting appeared to be the nation's second-deadliest school shooting, exceeded only by the Virginia Tech massacre in 2007.

Parents flooded to Sandy Hook Elementary School, about 60 miles northeast of New York City, looking for their children in the wake of the shooting. Students were told to close their eyes by police as they were led from the building.

A tearful President Barack Obama said in a news conference that the country's leaders must "take meaningful action" regardless of politics in response to the mass shooting at a Connecticut elementary school.

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The president teared up, at times using an index finger to wipe at the corner of his eyes, as he addressed the nation from the White House. He also paused repeatedly as he struggled to keep his composure while speaking of the children — ages 5 to 10 — who had died and the life milestones they now would miss.

He said, quote, "Our hearts are broken."

Shortly before speaking, Obama ordered that U.S. flags be flown at half-staff on public grounds through Tuesday.

"The shooting in Connecticut is absolutely horrific and heartbreaking," Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper said in a statement released Friday. "We know too well what impact this kind of violence has on a community and our nation. Our thoughts and prayers are immediately with the families of those killed. We can offer comfort, but we all know the pain will stay forever."

The principal and school psychologist were among the dead, CNN said. An entire classroom of students was unaccounted for, the Hartford Courant reported, citing unnamed sources.

"Our hearts go out to the people of Newtown," said Steve Hogan, the mayor of Aurora, where 12 people were killed and 58 wounded in a mass shooting at a movie theater there in July. "It is almost incomprehensible that an elementary school would be the site of such violence. We join the nation in praying for the victims, their families and all of those impacted by this terrible tragedy."

A photo taken by The Newtown Bee newspaper showed a group of young students — some crying, others looking visibly frightened — being escorted by adults through a parking lot in a line, hands on each other's shoulders.

Students and staff were among the victims, state police Lt. Paul Vance said a brief news conference. He also said the gunman was dead inside the school, but he refused to say how people were killed.

Another official, speaking on condition of anonymity because the investigation was still under way, said the gunman apparently had two guns.

A law enforcement official in Washington said the attacker was a 20-year-old man with ties to the school and that one of the guns was a .223-caliber rifle. The official also said that police were searching a location in New Jersey in connection with the shootings. That official spoke on the condition of anonymity because the source was not authorized to speak on the record about the developing criminal investigation.

Robert Licata said his 6-year-old son was in class when the gunman burst in and shot the teacher.

"That's when my son grabbed a bunch of his friends and ran out the door," he said. "He was very brave. He waited for his friends."

He said the shooter didn't say a word.

Stephen Delgiadice said his 8-year-old daughter heard two big bangs and teachers told her to get in a corner. His daughter was fine.

"It's alarming, especially in Newtown, Connecticut, which we always thought was the safest place in America," he said.

A dispatcher at the Newtown Volunteer Ambulance Corps said a teacher had been shot in the foot and taken to Danbury Hospital. Andrea Rynn, a spokeswoman at the hospital, said it had three patients from the school but she did not have information on the extent or nature of their injuries.

Mergim Bajraliu, 17, heard the gunshots echo from his home and raced to check on his 9-year-old sister at the school. He said his sister, who was fine, heard a scream come over the intercom at one point. He said teachers were shaking and crying as they came out of the building.

"Everyone was just traumatized," he said.

Richard Wilford's 7-year-old son, Richie, is in the second grade at the school. His son told him that he heard a noise that "sounded like what he described as cans falling."

The boy told him a teacher went out to check on the noise, came back in, locked the door and had the kids huddle up in the corner until police arrived.

"There's no words," Wilford said. "It's sheer terror, a sense of imminent danger, to get to your child and be there to protect him."

Melissa Makris, 43, said her 10-year-old son, Philip, was in the school gym.

"He said he heard a lot of loud noises and then screaming. Then the gym teachers immediately gathered the children in a corner and kept them safe in a corner," Makris said.

The fourth-grader told his mother that the students stayed huddled until police came in the gym. He also told her that he saw what looked like a body under a blanket as he fled the school.

"He said the policeman came in and helped them get out of the building and told them to run," Makris said. "And they ran to the firehouse."

The White House said Barack Obama was notified of the shooting and his spokesman Jay Carney said the president had "enormous sympathy for families that are affected."

Obama was notified of the shooting and his spokesman Jay Carney said the president had "enormous sympathy for families that are affected."

Obama was briefed on the shooting Friday morning. Spokesman Jay Carney said the White House would "do everything we can to support state and local law enforcement."

The president was first informed about the incident by his counterterrorism adviser John Brennan and will continue to receive regular updates throughout the day, Carney said.

The White House also said the FBI is supporting state and local law enforcement officials in Connecticut as they respond to and investigate the incident.

Carney wouldn't say whether the shooting would make gun control a higher priority on the president's agenda, but he said there would be a day for discussion on that policy issue.

"But I don't think today is that day," he said.

___________

Text of President Barack Obama's address to the nation after Friday's mass shooting at a Connecticut elementary school, as provided by CQ Transcriptions:

"This afternoon, I spoke with Governor Malloy and FBI Director Mueller. I offered Gov. Malloy my condolences on behalf of the nation and made it clear he will have every single resource that he needs to investigate this heinous crime, care for the victims, counsel their families."

"We've endured too many of these tragedies in the past few years. And each time I learn the news, I react not as a president, but as anybody else would as a parent. And that was especially true today. I know there's not a parent in America who doesn't feel the same overwhelming grief that I do."

"The majority of those who died today were children — beautiful, little kids between the ages of 5 and 10 years old. They had their entire lives ahead of them — birthdays, graduations, weddings, kids of their own. Among the fallen were also teachers, men and women who devoted their lives to helping our children fulfill their dreams."

"So our hearts are broken today for the parents and grandparents, sisters and brothers of these little children, and for the families of the adults who were lost."

"Our hearts are broken for the parents of the survivors, as well, for as blessed as they are to have their children home tonight, they know that their children's innocence has been torn away from them too early and there are no words that will ease their pain."

"As a country, we have been through this too many times. Whether it is an elementary school in Newtown, or a shopping mall in Oregon, or a temple in Wisconsin, or a movie theater in Aurora, or a street corner in Chicago, these neighborhoods are our neighborhoods and these children are our children. And we're going to have to come together and take meaningful action to prevent more tragedies like this, regardless of the politics."

"This evening, Michelle and I will do what I know every parent in America will do, which is hug our children a little tighter, and we'll tell them that we love them, and we'll remind each other how deeply we love one another. But there are families in Connecticut who cannot do that tonight, and they need all of us right now. In the hard days to come, that community needs us to be at our best as Americans, and I will do everything in my power as president to help, because while nothing can fill the space of a lost child or loved one, all of us can extend a hand to those in need, to remind them that we are there for them, that we are praying for them, that the love they felt for those they lost endures not just in their memories, but also in ours."

"May God bless the memory of the victims and, in the words of Scripture, heal the brokenhearted and bind up their wounds."

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